Subaru Head Gasket & Clutch Replacement Continued

Repair Notes Continued :

Remove the pressure plate and clutch. To remove the flywheel, wedge a screwdriver between 2 teeth of the flywheel and bell housing to keep it from rotating, then remove the bolts. I chose to have the flywheel machined before replacing it, and the machine shop also pressed in a new pilot bearing. Before taking the flywheel to the machine shop, be sure to make a sketch of of the flywheel - where markings are, where the pins are pressed in, etc. The machine shop pulled the pins out to grind the surface. If he had put them in different holes, I wouldn't have been able to know. Also make sure that you find the marks on the flywheel (arrow) and pressure plate (not shown). The natural tendency would be to line these up, but they actually mark the direction of natural unbalance, and they should be at least 120° apart.
While the flywheel is removed it is a good time to change the rear main seal and replace the oil separator plate if it is plastic. The new plate is aluminum. Reseal it with Permatex Ultra-Gray sealant.
Remove the throwout bearing and release lever. While removing the lever, the boot totally crumbled. I ordered a replacement. I then cleaned the snout where the throwout bearing rides of all old grease and dust.
There has been some discussion about the snout wearing. Some people have reported having large grooves worn into the snout. While some wear was evident on mine, I did not see any reason for concern - I regreased it and installed the new throwout bearing. If you find excessive wear on the snout, a repair kit is available from PDM Turbos. You can read about it here. It sells for around $125.
A view of the bottom end. I removed the oil pan to reseal it with new rtv. Again, I used Permatex Ultra Gray - it is listed in a TSB as a recommended sealant.
Remove the screws from the rear of the oil pump and put Loctite blue on the threads, then rescrew them. Replace the oil pump o-ring and reseal the oil pump to the block. Install the water pump and torque to the proper specifications.
Install the flywheel using Loctite blue on the flywheel bolts. Torque to proper spefications. Again, wedge a screwdriver to keep the flywheel from turning. Install clutch and pressure plate using a clutch alignment tool to keep clutch disc centered.